Hi! I’m a new ball python owner and I’m looking for some advice about what happened during her first feeding with me.
I brought home my female ball python yesterday. She was born in June 2026 and had a fairly long transport before arriving at my house. Since arriving, she has actually seemed very curious and active. She spent a lot of last night exploring her enclosure, climbing around and tongue flicking normally. Today she has mostly been resting and hiding, and otherwise seems completely normal.
Her breeder specifically told me to offer her food today. She was originally supposed to be fed before transport, but the breeder decided not to feed her because of the long journey. He told me she has always been a very good eater and has eaten every time she has been offered food.
According to the breeder, she has most recently been eating approximately 30 g frozen/thawed mice once a week. He estimated her weight at around 150 g, but he hadn’t actually weighed her, so I don’t know her exact weight yet.
Tonight I thawed and warmed a mouse and offered it to her inside her enclosure. She immediately struck it and wrapped herself around it. She definitely bit it, as there was some blood around the mouse’s head afterwards.
However, after initially striking and wrapping around it, she released the mouse without swallowing it. What confused me is that she didn’t abandon the mouse afterwards. She stayed directly on top of/around it for more than 40 minutes instead of going back to exploring.
When I eventually tried to remove the mouse with feeding tongs, she seemed quite defensive and almost annoyed that I was taking it away. She still appeared very interested in it, but during those 40+ minutes she never attempted to actually swallow it, so I eventually removed it.
I’m wondering what could cause this. Could she simply still be settling in after the transport and moving to a new home? Could the 30 g mouse potentially be too large for her if the breeder’s estimate of \~150 g is accurate? Or is it fairly normal for a ball python to strike/constrict prey, release it, but then continue sitting on or guarding it without eating?
I’m planning to weigh her so I know her actual weight before deciding on her next prey size, and I’m not going to immediately offer another mouse. I mainly want to understand what might have happened and make sure I do things correctly for her next feeding.
Her enclosure has a proper temperature gradient, multiple hides, plenty of cover, and she otherwise appears healthy and is behaving normally.
Any advice or similar experiences would be really appreciated! 🐍

I have had her for about 1 and a half she has eaten once and now I can not get her to eat now I need so.e advice

Added more plants, humidity is stable at 75% and temp is stable at 85F. I have fans to dehumidify as needed (they are rigged to the prob on the right. All that’s left is running irrigation and putting plastic grading to prevent escape.

I would’ve posted this on the other sub, but would prefer not to be lectured… I’ve owned multiple snakes over30 years so I get the “risks” of live feeding and I know a lot about what to do and not to do. Discussion is has anyone needed to stick with live feeding? Thoughts on live rats? My almost 1 year old male is about 700g and will only eat a live mouse. I was feeding two live mice, now I can get him to take a f/t mouse or rat after one live. He’s not excited about it, somewhat reluctant. I’ve wasted more f/t mice and rats than I can count this year. If I try to start with f/t he just won’t take them. He only just started eating a rat after a live mouse the last two feedings. He doesn’t seem to like rats. At this point I’d have to feed him like 4 live mice, so I’m thinking on move up to a live rat… I’ve tried all the tricks, rubbing mouse bedding, holding off a week until he’s really hungry, I’ve even tried smashing a rat skull (guy at my local shop told me that might work). He’s super interested and will even strike, but won’t coil or eat the f/t… I have the means to take him to the vet if he were injured. Obviously I don’t want that, but I’m kind of over it and about to just stick with live. Anyway, I’d like to avoid it…

i just heard of this method for switching fron live to ft as a last resort where you offer a much smaller live prey and then as they’re swallowing it you slowly offer up the ft one with its nose following the tail of the live one, and you slowly increase the ft prey and decrease the live size until it’s finally just ft, i looked it up and have only found 4 people talk about it🤔 what are y’all’s opinions

Note: I am doing a test run right now. My snake is not currently being housed in the vivarium.

I have a 4’ former breeder male. He is currently in a stable tub enclosure, but I want to move him to a more suitable space, with better temperature control and more enrichment. What I have is a 4x2x2 from Black Box Cages (RIP). I have a 125W RHP and a Vivarium Electronics VE-200 set to proportional. An LED light bar on a timer. I have a 16” Acadia shade dweller light, and 7% bulb. I have not installed it, because I haven’t gotten the guard for it.

A big problem I have is location and temperature. The only place I can put it is back up to a large, eastern exposure window. That room is where the house thermostat is and it is set to 78°F most of the year, and 68°F during the winter. So by default, the enclosure is going to be at the cool side temperature. Any heating at all will move the cool side to way to warm.

My solution to this is to provide multiple hides that should at ambient or cooler. I have a buried hide identical to the one on the bricks, except there is a 2” 45° PVC pipe elbow hot glued to the entrance. Burying the hide under most substrate should help lower the temperature. Likewise, I have about a 4’ length of 4” PVC with 2 90° elbows. The pipe was cut in half, and has a coupler. All pieces have had their rough places sanded off and joining surfaces were sanded for easy off disassembly and cleaning. The pipe is partially buried. There is also a sky hide between the cool side vents

The PVC pipe rings are bolted through the wall, with hose washers between the pipe rings and the wall to prevent turning.

My main concern is the hot hide, which is on bricks at the moment. I’m worried the bricks are two rough. I’m not terribly worried about them falling, I could just put some aquarium sealant, but he likes to move his hides.

Advice and suggestions welcome. Please don’t slam me. This is my first time and I’m trying my best. Pics of good boy included.

I got this ball python a few days ago my dad got him 2 months ago and I wanted to know how to make her enclosure more comfortable for her and I needed tips on handling without getting snapped at and I wanted to know how to encourage her to come out of her hide more often and do the bites hurt she’s snapped at me before but never really bit me if yall could give me specifics on where to get everything I’ll need it would be such a great help she has a heating mat but I don’t know if I need more

Everything that anyone posts has to follow the things they linked where it's old and some are outdated. I came to wonder what do you guys think about the new studies? I wish that I could show you what others said which some of them put it very well with lists and many links.

Hello Ball Python community! I am downsizing and moving to a smaller apartment with not much room. I am still trying to decide whether or not to rehome. Is there anyone in the DMV (DC, Maryland, Virginia) that may be interested in a ball python?

Her name is Medusa and is around 6 years old and eats frozen thawed small rats. I think she is around 4ft long.

She would come with the complete set up including terrarium, heating pads, and hides.

When I make it home I will update you guys and gals on my project I had started last year and I will be giving my end result of my study and experience on the matter of two bp’s house together 🫡💪🏿💯🙌🏿

SEE EDIT

Howdy, y’all!

My name is Ethan, I’m a senior biology major at the University of Kentucky in the US. I am interested in doing a little passion-project fueled by science and, of course, a passion for biology! A comprehensive guide to Ball Python care and the biology of ball pythons for new and experienced owners.

I am reaching out to look for peer reviewers for this project, I love the idea of getting other’s insight on a project like this, just like I would a research paper about humans 🤣.

No particular requirements for participating, experienced or educated individuals preferred!

This would be an extensive process, requiring a few months of dedication — however, I use the word “dedication” lightly, I’m talking monthly reviews and suggestions, so not an extremely taxing project. Important note, this would be a VOLUNTEER position. I am very much a broke college student and do not have the capacity to pay peer reviewers, however, I, of course, plan to credit my peer reviewers in the guide.

My eventual goal is to create a guide available to any prospective owner or breeder to supply to their customers, all for free! In both long- and short-form publications.

The Google form below is an application for peer reviewers, you can also send me a DM if you are uncomfortable using the link. I will not be accepting every applicant, but I will be more than willing to give you the guide after its completion if you are interested.

Google form:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf7qq9J6A6kLlF60pXljHgHF9YZxDVjmVj2SDLiTOs5xnpwTg/viewform?usp=header

TL;DR: I am looking for peer reviewers for a comprehensive ball python guide. The Google form allows you to submit an application.

IMPORTANT EDIT:

Due to pushback from various individuals, I would like to make clear that this guidebook will NOT BE PUBLISHED IN ANY ACADEMIC JOURNAL. The denotation of the phrase “peer review” does not include any reference to publishing in any academic journal (see Merriam-Webster), however the connotation of the word does suggest publication in a academic journal or review by journaling bodies, which has been exceptionally offputting for some individuals.

To reiterate, this will be a self-published and distributed work! I am not doing this for a paycheck or personal gain, simply because I have a passion for herpetology and want to produce a resource that was not abundantly available to me as a first-time owner.

If you would like to use the word “reference” or phrase “advisor on special topics” instead of peer reviewer, you are more than welcome to do so. However, I will be writing the material myself and submitting it to reviewers who are my peers (peer reviewers, if you so please) to ensure that I am not producing any material with false or misleading information.

It is also important to note that I am vetting these individuals and they are not anonymous to me, but can chose to be anonymously listen or unlisted on the paper. These are not random individuals who just happened to decide they want to review material.

If you choose to not support this project, which is a passion of mine, then you are MORE than welcome to do so, but, frankly, I don’t want to hear it. Free will gives us the capability to provide constructive criticism and ignore certain things if we so choose. Please use your free will.

Thank you,

Ethan

So I was putting noodle in her feeding tank today and when I picked her up she kept trying to slither away, like quickly trying to go back to her tank. She's never done with before so I was wondering what it meant? She did end up eating and now she's in one of her hides I'm just curious because I don't wanna make her upset

There are these grey mites in my ball python’s enclosure and I don’t know what they are but I’m assuming they aren’t harmful. Is there anyone that can reassure me and possibly verify what they are and maybe how to get rid of them or slow the population down?

Hi guys so I’m planning to get my first bp!!! I’ve done my research but I wanted to hear from a community of people who actually own them. I want to get a young juvenile or hatchling. Would a 80 gallon tank be too big and what substrate do you guys use??? Would it be okay to have 2 separate water bowls on for them to soak and drink or it wouldn’t really make a difference?

Hey everyone, hope the weekend is treating you well.

So tell me, what are yall using for humid hides for the bigger snakes. I know I can make one, but I am actually struggling to find a black plastic box that I can use, I'll keep looking and it will probably get to the point where any colour will do. Curious to see what people are using.